PRESS
RELEASE
from
Romney
for President
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
|
CONTACT: Romney Press Office
|
February 10, 2012
|
|
CONSERVATIVE LEADERS
PEN LETTER PRAISING ROMNEY ON LIFE, MARRIAGE, AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Boston, MA –
Nine conservative leaders from Massachusetts recently praised Mitt
Romney’s record on protecting life, defending traditional marriage, and
standing for religious freedom. The nine leaders wrote the following
letter on Mitt Romney’s record in Massachusetts:
An Open Letter Regarding Governor Mitt Romney
December 30, 2011
Dear conservative friends:
We
hail from a broad spectrum of organizations dedicated to fighting for
the pro-family agenda in Massachusetts. As you know, Mitt Romney
served as the governor of our state from January 2, 2003 to January 3,
2007. During that time, we worked closely with him and his excellent
staff on that agenda.
Some
press accounts and bloggers have described Governor Romney in terms we
neither have observed nor can we accept. To the contrary, we, who
have
been fighting here for the values you also hold, are indebted to him
and his responsive staff in demonstrating solid social conservative
credentials by undertaking the following actions here in Massachusetts.
The following is not an endorsement of Governor Romney but our account
of the facts to set the record straight.
Staunchly
defended traditional marriage. Governor Romney immediately and
strongly condemned the November 18, 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial
Court (SJC) decision that legalized “same-sex marriage” in our
state.
More importantly, he followed up on that denunciation with action –
action that saved our nation from a constitutional crisis over the
definition of marriage. He and his staff identified and enforced
a
little-known 1913 law that allowed them to order local clerks not to
issue marriage licenses to out-of-state couples. Absent this
action,
homosexual couples would surely have flooded into Massachusetts from
other states to get “married” and then demanded that their home states
recognize the “marriages,” putting the nation only one court decision
away from nationalizing “same-sex marriage.”
We
do not agree with the claims that Gov. Romney had bogus Party A and
Party B marriage licenses printed and ordered Justices of the Peace and
Town Clerks to perform same-sex “marriages” when asked or be fired. As
May 17, 2004 (the SJC’s declaratory judgment date) approached, the
Governor’s Office of Legal Counsel issued provisional advisory
instructions to the justices of the peace and prepared revised license
applications. These executive actions did not result in the issuance of
marriage licenses to same-sex couples before May 17. The new policies
were carried out only after and as a direct result of the judiciary’s
final action in Goodridge on May 17. They did not generate same-sex
marriages; that responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
We
do not agree with the claims that Gov. Romney issued marriage licenses
to same-sex couples. The governor does not issue marriage licenses in
Massachusetts. Only the town clerks can do that. But the governor can
issue one-day justice of the peace authorizations to an individual who
wants to perform a marriage ceremony but is not a licensed minister,
town clerk or justice of the peace. The governor’s office issues
thousands of those in a four year term with the only criteria being
that the individual doing the ceremony is in good standing and the
parties getting married have a valid marriage license.
Worked
hard to overturn “same-sex marriage” in the Commonwealth with
substantial results. In 2004 he lobbied hard, before a very
hostile
legislature, for a constitutional amendment protecting marriage – an
amendment later changed by the legislature to include civil unions,
which the Governor and many marriage amendment supporters
opposed.
Working with the Governor, we were successful in defeating this
amendment.
Provided
strong, active support for a record-setting citizen petition drive in
2005 to advance a clean constitutional amendment defining marriage as
the union of one man and one woman. The petition drive collected the
largest number of signatures in Massachusetts history.
Rallied
thousands of citizens around the state to focus public and media
attention on the failure of legislators, through repeated delays, to
perform their constitutional obligation and vote on the marriage
amendment. In November of 2006, Gov. Romney held the largest State
House rally in Massachusetts history with over 7000 supporters of
traditional marriage.
Filed
suit before the Supreme Judicial Court asking the court to clarify the
legislators’ duty to vote and failing that, to place the amendment on
the 2008 ballot. That lawsuit, perhaps more than any other single
action, was by all accounts instrumental in bringing the ultimate
pressure on the legislators to vote. The SJC unanimously ruled
that
the Legislature must vote and the historic vote was taken on January 2,
2007 winning legislative support. This cleared a major hurdle in the
three year effort to restore traditional marriage in the Commonwealth.
Fought
for abstinence education. In 2006, under Governor Romney’s
leadership,
Massachusetts’ public schools began to offer a classroom program on
abstinence from the faith-based Boston group Healthy Futures to middle
school students. Promoting the program, Governor Romney stated,
“I’ve
never had anyone complain to me that their kids are not learning enough
about sex in school. However, a number of people have asked me why it
is that we do not speak more about abstinence as a safe and
preventative health practice.”
Affirmed
the culture of life. Governor Romney vetoed bills to provide
access to
the so-called “morning-after pill,” which is an abortifacient, as well
as a bill providing for expansive, embryo-destroying stem cell
research. He vetoed the latter bill in 2005 because he could not
“in
good conscience allow this bill to become law.”
We
do not agree with the claims that Gov. Romney is responsible for tax
payer funded abortion under the Massachusetts health care system. That
blame lies solely on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court who ruled
in 1981 that the Massachusetts Constitution required payment for
abortions for Medicaid-eligible women. In 1997, the Court reaffirmed
its position that a state-subsidized plan must offer “medically
necessary abortions.”
Stood
for religious freedom. Governor Romney was stalwart in defense of
the
right of Catholic Charities of Boston to refuse to allow homosexual
couples to adopt children in its care. Catholic Charities was
loudly
accused of “discrimination,” but Governor Romney correctly pointed out
that it is unjust to force a religious agency to violate the tenets of
its faith in order to placate a special-interest group.
Filed
“An Act Protecting Religious Freedom” in the Massachusetts legislature
to save Catholic Charities of Boston and other religious groups from
being forced to violate their moral principles or stop doing important
charitable work.
All
of this may explain why John J. Miller, the national political reporter
of National Review, wrote that “a good case can be made that Romney has
fought harder for social conservatives than any other governor in
America, and it is difficult to imagine his doing so in a more daunting
political environment.”
We
are aware of the 1994 comments of Senate candidate Romney, which have
been the subject of much recent discussion. While they are, taken
by
themselves, obviously worrisome to social conservatives including
ourselves, they do not dovetail with the actions of Governor Romney
from 2003 until now – and those actions have positively and
demonstrably impacted the social climate of Massachusetts.
Since
well before 2003, we have been laboring in the trenches of
Massachusetts, fighting for the family values you and we share.
It is
difficult work indeed – not for the faint of heart. In this
challenging environment, Governor Romney has proven that he shares our
values, as well as our determination to protect them.
For
four years, Governor Romney was right there beside us, providing
leadership on key issues – whether it was politically expedient to do
so or not. He has stood on principle, and we have benefited
greatly
from having him with us.
It
is clear that Governor Romney has learned much since 1994 – to the
benefit of our movement and our Commonwealth. In fact, the entire
nation has benefited from his socially conservative, pro-family actions
in office. As we explained earlier, his leadership on the
marriage
issue helped prevent our nation from being plunged into even worse
legal turmoil following the court decision that forced “gay marriage”
upon our Commonwealth.
For that our country ought to be thankful. We certainly are.
Sincerely,
Rita Covelle
President, Morality in Media Massachusetts
Gerald D. D’Avolio
Former Executive Director, Massachusetts Catholic Conference
Raymond L. Flynn
Former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See
Professor Mary Ann Glendon
Harvard Law School
Former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See
Kristian Mineau
President, Massachusetts Family Institute
Dr. Roberto Miranda
COPAHNI Fellowship of Hispanic Pastors of New England
James F. Morgan
Chairman, Institute for Family Development
Joseph Reilly
Former Chairman of the Board, Massachusetts Citizens for Life
Thomas A. Shields
Chairman, Coalition for Marriage and Family
Note:
The signatories are all acting as individual citizens, and not as
representatives of their respective organizations. Organizational
affiliations appear for identification purposes only.
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